(Delphinium; Delphinium Castle)
The Blossom Field galaxy was at peace. It had been two years since the last war, and life had settled into the nearly idyllic feeling that beginning of the Resurrection Era had brought. It was now October of Year 35 of the Resurrection Era, and the worlds of the galaxy thrived. The Ruler Cultivator of each world worked together as a unified team of ten, though the High Queens of the two biggest worlds, Protea and Delphinium, served as Overseers of the four Lower worlds following each of their own.
Delphinium was ruled by High Queen Reagan Delphinium and her husband, Pallas. He served also as the Archon of the Immortal Fields that made up a large chunk of the metaphysical realm known as the Ephemeral Plane, so though he may not be a Cultivator like his wife, as a demi-god he had his own share of power.
Reagan happened to be a Dual Cultivator—both Ruler and Defender—so she both ruled and protected her world alike should evil arrive. She was a seasoned Defender, in fact, with several wars in her past. She was mostly magically-oriented though, so she fought from the back row. She had an open and giving extroverted personality, was generous to a fault, and never hesitated to get dirty to help her people. She simply effused optimism and good will into the air around her. She was also a little forgetful, clumsy to an amusing degree, and had more than once said something on the edge of ridiculous without shame. Her people worshipped the ground she walked on. They had loved Reagan's mother—the last High Queen—with the same degree, but Reagan was different from her mother in many ways.
But not all of them.
Edgar Chivanti stood in the grand foyer at the entrance to the castle and looked at the broken vase being swept up by a maid. Musingly, he said to his wife, "You know, I seem to recall that we eventually moved the vase from the entrance because you were always knocking it over too."
Siobhan Chivanti, the former High Queen Sayena Delphinium, grinned unrepentantly. "And like her father, she refuses to bow to tradition."
The former High King Evan Delphinium just grinned back. "Shall we see how our erstwhile heir is handling things? It's been a year since we were here last."
"Two years since we got our freedom," she murmured. It seemed surreal. She turned to go down the hall and promptly bumped another table and sent another vase tumbling.
Thankfully, Edgar was used to his wife. He caught the vase before it hit the ground. He hid a smile as he took her elbow and firmly escorted her down the hall. They had grown up together in two lives spanning ten thousand years, so he had seen more than one clumsy attack, outrageous statement, unquenchable belief in happy endings, and volatile temper tantrum. He had loved every single moment, honestly.
They walked into the throne room in time to hear their daughter almost wailing, "If you hadn't distracted me, I wouldn't have knocked it over!"
Reagan stood near her throne and was waving her hands at the green-haired man sitting on the other throne. He wore the familiar crown of the High King, but it had tilted at a slight angle as if to imply he had been unintentionally smacked. "And," he said, laughter in his voice, "you weren't complaining until the vase fell."
They made a beautiful pair visually as much as emotionally. Reagan had a plump and petite frame against Pallas' slim, though strong, and slightly taller one. She possessed the familiar gold eyes and cream skin tone of her Delphinian lineage, and her shoulder length white hair hung in loose though enthusiastic curls that had black at the end of every strand; it gave her an adorably freckled effect across her hair that paid homage to her half-Protean blood. Pallas had hair and eyes as green as grass as well as a richly tanned skin tone, both likely echoing to the Nature Flower Element he owned. Reagan, of course, being of Delphinium, had the Illusion Flower Element.
She nearly retorted at her husband and then spotted her parents in the doorway. A smile brightened her lovely face and made her eyes glow like precious metal. "Mom! Dad!" She rushed across the room and happily hugged her only slightly shorter mother. They shared the same body type as well as eye and skin color, but Siobhan's solidly white hair hung to the floor in a thick mass of fluffy curls far more uncontrolled than her daughter's hair. She usually kept it in a fancy braid of some sort to try to tame it. "When did you get here??" Reagan demanded.
"Just now." Siobhan hugged her daughter just as fiercely. "Oooh! I missed you!" She eased back and studied Reagan's face intently. If there was any stress in her life, it had been well hidden. "You look happy."
"I'm feeling pretty happy." Reagan smiled. "You look wonderful."
Siobhan smiled back. "I'm feeling pretty wonderful." She looked at Pallas. "You're not letting her get herself too worked up, are you?"
"I do my best. It's good to see you again, Siobhan." He smiled at Edgar. "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but you are never far away for me. Though you and Shana no longer rule the Ephemeral Plane, you will forever maintain contact."
Edgar was a Ruler Cultivator in his own right, from Protea, and the reason why Reagan had black bits in her hair. His own hair hung straight and fine as it clung to his head in a short ponytail, and he had eyes the same pink as the black protea flower of his Mother world. He also had a golden brown skin with an underlying red hue that made him look Siobhan's perfect opposite; indeed, almost literally, they were opposites. He also had a relatively average height of five-eight, but an exceptionally powerful musculature from being a warrior his entire life. He did possess magic of course, and more than most Protea Cultivators, but nothing near his wife's literally infinite magic as the Apex of Light. "As long as we're not in charge anymore," he said dryly, "then we're happy. We served far more than a normal length of time."
"How long are you visiting?" Reagan asked curiously.
"For a little while. We thought it might be fun for a get together. All of the Elder Cultivators are visiting their kingdoms." Siobhan linked her hands behind her back. "And hoping for grandchildren," she said pointedly.
"Moth-er!" Reagan sighed. She should have known she would hear that refrain. "You're just jealous because Aunt Yvonne and Aunt Clara have grandkids."
Siobhan contemplated that while Edgar grinned at her. "Yes," she decided. "I am. Particularly when Yvonne gets to bragging. So make your mother happy and give her a grandkid sooner rather than later."
Reagan rolled her eyes. "Just don't expect me to go doing any fertility spells! You should have seen what happened when Raine did!"
Edgar slowly lifted a brow. "What happened?"
Pallas grinned. "The Daffodil Castle is covered in vines now."
Siobhan giggled. "And Tasia didn't fix it?"
"She said it served Raine right." Reagan giggled too.
(Iris; Iris Castle)
Yvonne Notesong stood in the foyer of the Iris Kingdom castle and studied a painting on the wall that showed a beautiful woman riding on the back of a dragon over the eternally snowy landscapes of Iris. Flowers still bloomed though; quite a few things grew wonderfully in snow, and the artist had captured many of them. Of course she had; the painting had a rather familiar signature in the bottom corner from a dear friend. "I never could have imagined the events of the last ten years," she decided. "Ever."
Her husband smiled wryly. "How were we ever supposed to envision the Resurrection Cultivators? Particularly our daughter!" Douglas Notesong added with emphasis. "If she'd been born to us, perhaps we'd have been prepared."
"After talking with her birth mother for hours on end about that very thing," she countered dryly, "I can say with certainty that we wouldn't have been prepared at all! Ah, well." She headed down the hall with her hands linked behind her back. "Let's see how our favorite Mystic Sorceress is handling things."
A very loud and terrified feminine shriek came from the direction of the throne room. It was followed by a mystical feminine voice saying in exasperation, "It's just a frog! It doesn't have teeth and it certainly won't give you warts!" The beautiful contralto voice sounded as mystical as Chaos itself and just as wild and untamed.
"Oh my," Doug murmured as he pushed the doors open. He was fairly sure he knew what they would see.
Sure enough, there was a visiting dignitary standing on a chair while an ugly bullfrog hopped around on the floor. A little boy of no more than five chased the frog from one direction while an older girl closer to twelve tried to catch it from another. Both wore the small coronets that marked them as being of the royal house, but only the boy wore the small Ruler suit that named him as the next Ruler Cultivator of Iris. The girl wore an Irisian gown of her own of course; it just did not come as a magically generated outfit for she did not have a Seed. Her brother was also the only one of them to have the familiar softly glowing Flower Mark of Iris over his heart. His suit covered it mostly, but the glow could be spotted with ease.
Their mother stood close by with a look on her face that echoed to her being torn between amusement and exasperation. She wore the Ruler gown of an Iris Ruler Cultivator and a matching crown for she was the queen, but like all others of her generation, she was in fact Dual. The Flower Mark on her chest as a Ruler could not be seen; only the Mark on her upper left arm as a Defender was visible. It actually had tiny black poppies amid the iris blossoms thanks to the world of Aria in the next galaxy claiming her as well. Both Marks possessed a sparkling gray crown wrapped around the blossoms—something only Siobhan and Shana Toulume possessed as well, though Siobhan had a white one and Shana a black one.
She made a strikingly impressive figure thanks to possessing a body type perfectly between the powerful muscle of physical sorts and the plump curviness of magical sorts. She also had a breathtaking beauty emphasized by chocolate hair, mocha skin, and eyes that changed from caramel to chocolate depending on whether light or dark crossed her face. Both of her children shared her skin tone—which her husband did as well—and her daughter had her hair color while her son had her caramel eyes. Curiously so, perhaps, when her daughter had been adopted. "Anna." Her amused voice carried the distinct drawling rhythms of her Vericity heritage. She spoke every language fluently yet always maintained her accent unless she actively tried to remove it. She had given up on the effort. "Just reverse it back out."
"Oh." Anna Iris stopped in surprise and her black eyes widened enough to emphasize the magenta undertone within. "I forgot I could do that!" She closed her eyes and concentrated hard enough that the pendant of blue diamond she wore began to glow softly with silver majik. She opened her eyes and pointed at the frog, and it disappeared with an aggravated ribbit. She brightened visibly. "I did it!"
"And it was your dumb brother that conjured it!" the dignitary nearly shrieked.
Both children dashed over to hide behind their mother's skirt and under the cape she wore. Anastasia Iris' eyes narrowed sharply and dangerously. Across her pupils swirled white and black lightning caught inside a seething galaxy made of shadows. To look into the shadows was to look into Chaos itself. "Repeat yourself," the Lead Defender for the Resurrection Era said softly.
If you dare.
The words were unspoken but distinctly heard. The dignitary swallowed carefully as she got off the chair. Nerves made her palms sweaty. She knew all too well that Queen Anastasia, as Lead Defender, was by far the most powerful and dangerous of her generation. She had been specifically chosen by Destiny itself to be the strongest. She was also a sorceress in possession of every Flower Element as part of her majik; the majik equally existed inside both of her children to make them witches. She held Ice, True Shadow, and Chaos Flower Elements in her magic as a Cultivator (Ice from Iris, Shadow from Aria), and on top of that, she also happened to be the Apex of Chaos: a goddess among mortals with infinite power known as arcanistry and the only being alive to own the Chaos Flower Element. She could literally make miracles. "M-my apologies, Your Majesty."
"Out."
The dignitary gathered her skirts in her hands and rushed for the door with more haste than grace. As the door slammed behind her, Tasia blew out a breath that stirred her bangs. "Bloody buggerin' hell as Beth might say! Daelan!" She turned on her son. "You know better than that!"
Daelan Iris was a smart boy. He ran and hid behind Doug. His grandfather grinned. "Nice try, kid. I'm not facing your mother's wrath!" He scooped up his grandson and tossed him over his shoulder while Daelan shrieked with laughter. "Are we having fun?"
"I don't know," Tasia retorted. "Are we? Ooh!" She yanked off the crown she wore. "Have I mentioned I sometimes hate my job?" She began to yank out the pins holding her thick hair on top of her head. She only ever left down the streaks of purple ombre and golden yellow when she pinned her hair up. The streaks were mark of her Seed being born of Iris, and they matched to Yvonne's own purple ombre hair and golden yellow eyes.
Until Tasia's generation, every Ruler or Defender—or Dual in Yvonne's case as well—had had coloring matching their world's flower thanks to power becoming inbred. The lineages had safely rebooted in this generation with the Lower worlds having Duals not born to the last generation, and the two High worlds being internally rebooted by intergalactic blood coming into play two generations earlier. Therefore, other than a sort of eerie echo, Tasia did not actually look like either of her adopted parents. Yvonne had the coloring of the purple iris, fair skin, a mostly plump figure, and a shorter height. Doug was an inch shorter than his daughter, had a strong frame, and green eyes paired to blond hair and tanned skin.
Yvonne watched Tasia's hair come down and her brows shot up. The chocolate locks touched the floor. Pooled, in fact. It had never grown normally to begin with—moving in fits and starts based on her power—but it had seemed to stabilize at ankle length after she had evolved to an Apex a few years before. It had happened to Siobhan and Shana alike as well up to their own evolutions ages before, but here, suddenly, Tasia's hair had grown again. "What happened, Tasi?"
Tasia scowled. "I don't have a single clue. It started growing insanely over the last two months, and I don't use that term lightly. My power is completely erratic right now, though Goddess knows why. It grows so damn fast that I have to keep cutting it nearly every day to keep it off the floor! I keep hoping it'll settle down soon." She propped her hands on her hips. "So. What's new?"
"Not much." Doug smiled. "You still keeping LeAnn out of trouble?"
"Ha! I leave that to her Caretaker husband."
"And is your Caretaker keeping you out of trouble?" Yvonne asked dryly.
"Now you're being silly." She walked over and bent to hug her tightly. At five-eleven, she was more than half a foot taller than her adopted mother. They jokingly said she got her height from Doug since he stood barely shorter. They may not have shared much in looks, but in personality, there was no mistaking her resemblance to either. "I'm missed you both! I knew you'd be by soon, just not when."
"There's something you don't know?" Yvonne teased lightly.
"Sometimes."
"Where is Rodi anyway?" Doug asked. He scooped up Anna to hug her tightly when she ran over. "There's my favorite girl!" He gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. Though not Tasia or Rodi's by blood, there was no telling. In fact, most didn't know until they realized she had no Seed. She had a remarkably eerie physical resemblance to her parents over all, including a taller height.
"He and Logan decided to beat the crap out of each other." Tasia grinned. "It would seem he wasn't in a mood to let me kick his ass."
"I don't blame him," Doug groused. "You kick hard."
"I only dumped you on the mat once."
"And it hurt."
"Alright, alright!" Yvonne pushed them apart with a smile. "Let's get something to drink and get caught up." She picked up Daelan. "And no more frogs."
"Bunnies?"
She could only laugh. "Maybe just one."
(Daffodil; Daffodil Castle)
Kellie and Tyson Gregori were in an electric carriage about to stop in front of their family castle when their eight-year-old son, Devin, told them, "I was thinking about things and realized that I have a weird family tree."
"Other than obvious?" Tyson asked dryly. "Your adopted sister is married to the cousin of her stepsister. We long ago decided that our side of the galactic tree is the strangest around." He opened the door as the carriage stopped, and he blinked rapidly as he got out. "We also have the strangest castle around. What the weighted hells?"
Kellie and Devin got out behind him and stared at the sight of the castle covered in so many vines that it was a surprise any stone could be seen at all. "Oh my," Kellie murmured.
Devin grinned cheekily. "I'd bet Raine messed up a spell."
"Devin, be nice!" Kellie ruffled his hair. "Or next time LeAnn turns you into a gecko, we won't make her turn you back."
"Yes'm." He linked his hands behind his head as he followed his parents into the castle. He fully intended to torment his sister despite the warning. She was the best person ever. She had something called magikry which was magic and majik combined—all of her generation had it—and for as long as he remembered, he had just always felt safest near her. Anyone with majik, really, but especially Raine. She sometimes felt more like another mother than a sister, given the wide age gap of twenty-six years, so when he walked into the throne room and saw her standing with a farmer, he completely forgot any sort of princely protocol. "Rainy!" He happily rushed across the room and jumped to hug her tightly around the neck.
Raine Daffodil burst into laughter as she caught her little brother before she dropped him. "My apologies," she said to the farmer.
He smiled. "No worries, my queen." He, like the rest of the kingdom, loved Raine and Logan deeply not just because of their brilliance as leaders, but also because they always gave generously of themselves to their people, and Raine herself willingly gave more as a Dual Cultivator. He spotted Kellie and Tyson, and though they wore casual clothes, he recognized them quickly. He bowed respectfully. "Lady Kacey and Lord Talon, it's a pleasure to see you."
Upon crowning a new queen and king, the former set would take Lady/Lord as their title to keep things clear as to who was in charge. Kellie—formerly Kacey Daffodil—found it a fair trade. She returned the bow and belied her regal heritage as much as her own Dual training. She looked nothing like her adopted daughter thanks to her copper eyes and peach hair set against brown skin, but she had passed her eye color on to her son as well as a lighter hue of her skin. Tyson had passed his cornflower blue hair to Devin, and he had gray eyes set against fair skin. Both shared their five-six height, so Raine's five-eight beat them both. "I'm sorry for interrupting," Kellie said on a smile.
"Not at all. We were just about done. We'll get right on things, Your Majesty," he told Raine.
She gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you SO much." As he walked out, she blew out a breath that stirred her streaks of copper and peach as well as her normally ashy brown hair where it fell into her equally ash brown eyes. She had tanned skin and a surprisingly slender frame despite clear strength that her Ruler gown could not disguise entirely. "That's one less issue to deal with. And you!" She tickled Devin mercilessly. "If I have to behave all proper, so do you!"
"He learned bad habits from Emily," Tyson whispered loudly.
Raine snorted. "Emily is a bad habit!" The words were fondly said. Lower Queen Emily Hyacinth of the world of the same was one of Raine's closest friends. "Okay." She crossed her arms. "Let's hear it. I know you're dying to ask, Dad. I can see it in your eyes."
He coughed. "So . . . vines?"
She rubbed her forehead on a sigh. "Majik overkill and plausibly karmic irony kickback from my sister. I tried a fertility spell."
Kellie covered a smile. "Didn't work?"
"How'd you guess?" Her gaze lowered. "Logan and I have been trying. But . . . nothing. A few hopeful moments, but nothing in the end. No one else has conceived either, but other than LeAnn and Chance they aren't actively trying the way we have been, so it has us concerned to say the least."
Kellie frowned and walked closer to put a hand over her belly. Raine was a powerful healer within her own right, but it was sometimes easier to look into others than yourself, and Kellie had vast medical training as a doctor on top of her magic. She found nothing that implied anything may be wrong. "I don't see anything, but best we have Siobhan check you as well. She has as much skill as I, but more magic to be sure. Even the most minute of things can be found by her."
"I wouldn't argue." Raine smiled. "What brought on the visit?" She pulled a device out of a hidden pocket in her Ruler gown while she was talking. The object known as a Personal Communication Assistant allowed for audio and visual communications across the galaxy in varying ways; the most useful was calling another PCA via personal code to talk across any distance.
"We missed everyone and decided it was time to come home. That, and Shana was being Shana and just knew we needed to come home." Kellie tilted her head toward where the farmer had gone. "Is he helping the palace?" She knew Raine and Logan often contracted jobs to small farms for landscaping of the palace grounds. Daffodil's mostly flat landscape with scattered craggy stones and volcanos that spewed metal fragments into the air—from the world's Metal Flower Element—made for a surprisingly fertile ground, so they had a decent number of farmlands.
"Yes, he's getting rid of my overzealousness. Also known as the clinging vines." Raine lifted her phone. "Logan Daffodil." When the other side clicked over, she said, "Home. Now." And immediately disconnected again.
Tyson grinned. "That's my girl."
(Aster; Aster Castle)
For much of the Rebirth Era preceding the Resurrection Era, the two Defender Cultivators of Protea and Delphinium had been the most legendary of their team, though the team as a whole had been relatively legendary as well due to many factors. By the time the current Era had arrived, both Shana and Siobhan had hung up their Masks in order to rule as High Queens, and most people had even forgotten they existed—until years later when their own daughters stepped up as Dual Cultivators, and the truth had been needed to be revealed.
It likely could have continued being a secret, Sherry Yamamoto mused to herself, if it hadn't been for the fact that Tasia had told LeAnn and Reagan they could serve as full members of the team despite being High Princesses—or Queens—and so it had been needed to be announced to the galaxy as a whole that, yes, Protea and Delphinium actually had Defenders despite never having them before in millions of years. Shanae and Sayena had debated endlessly over how to make the announcement and had finally just made Tasia write it since it was her fault.
"You know, I always knew that Liena's bloodline would cause us trouble," she told her husband, Justin. "I just didn't realize how much, or in what way!"
He grinned. "I blame Byron's blood mixing with Jean's."
Fair point. Liena Vanguard had been an incredibly powerful witch who had been the High Priestess of Protea for the Royal Era. Her direct descendant five thousand years later, Jean Kinsley, had been High Priestess for the Rebirth Era. Jean had turned out to be a Caretaker herself, to a Defender Cultivator of the planet Ranunculus. Byron Rancul had been rather special in his own right, and had become an honorary member of Blossom Field. His and Jean's direct descendant, the third and final High Priestess of Protea, was none other than Tasia. "I agree," she decided. "There is definitely almost as much of Byron in Tasia as there is Jean or Liena. Which may be why Theo keeps her from getting away with murder. I always had a knack with keeping Byron in line." She grinned. "And speaking of, let's see how our erstwhile son is handling things around here."
Justin smiled. "If he's anything like his mother—and he is—then there's nothing he can't handle."
She swung around and grabbed him for a hard kiss that made many passing servants start giggling and clapping. Upon releasing him, she dragged him into the castle. "Where's Theo?" she asked a butler going past.
He bowed quickly with a smile. "He and the queen are in the Contemplation Room."
"Where else would they be?" Justin smiled and tugged Sherry close as they headed for the room in question. Aster Ruler Cultivators, by nature of the orange aster of their world, had the ability known as Ghost Sight that allowed them to see and speak with the spirits of those who had passed. Since Aster had the Fire Flower Element, and its flower represented rebirth, inevitably all the spirits that did not want to pass on to the Realm or be reborn ended up on the warm desert world. To allow the Rulers of Aster to communicate with their invisible subjects, they had Ghost Sight. The Contemplation Room effectively acted as a place where spirits could go to specifically gain their Ruler's attention for some reason.
Ghost Sight was not the only Sight in the Aster lineage, though. All Defenders of Aster also possessed the exceptionally rare Future Sight that allowed them to have premonitions and visions of the future. Sherry and Theo alike, both Dual, had both forms of Sight. Theo was not alone in his Sight, however; his wife and Caretaker, Kimber, possessed Present Sight of her own as part of being a witch within her own right. In fact, six of the ten Caretakers to the current Cultivator generation were witches as well. The other four had their own unique gifts.
As soon as Sherry and Justin entered the Room, they spotted Theo and Kimber sitting beside an eternally burning flame in a pit. There could no missing them amid the décor. Theo had long cardinal red hair currently tied up under his crown, fair skin, and intense cerulean blue eyes. After years of training, he had a rather strong frame though a soft sultriness clung to him still and only made him more unfairly beautiful. Streaks of orange and yellow hair over his eyes echoed back to Sherry's own orange hair and yellow eyes as proof of their shared Aster lineage. His adopted mother had a light brown skin tone, though. Justin's fair skin looked more like his son's, but he possessed pale green eyes and lavender hair instead. He also stood several inches taller than either mother or son's much shorter heights of five-three and five-five.
Kimber possessed soft coal skin, honey brown hair, and darker blue eyes, and she had a far softer figure, though she was not without some strength of her own. She quite easily kept her slightly shorter Cultivator in line as his Caretaker for she had plenty of tools at her disposal—as all Caretakers did.
Sherry couldn't resist showing off a little. She flicked her fingers and made the flame start to dance as she added to it via her Ruler magic. Retaliation was prompt: the edge of her short skirt caught flame. "Hey!" She hastily put it out. "That's cheating."
"Never try to one up a witch," Theodore Aster sniffed as he turned around. "My priestess teaches me all kinds of tricks." He hopped to his feet to brush out his Ruler suit, and his eyes sparkled merrily. "Do I know you people? You look kind of familiar."
Justin walked over and hugged him fiercely. "There's my boy!" He could have loved him no more if Theo had been his by blood. "Still the same as ever." He eyed Kimber. "You keeping him out of trouble?"
"I leave miracles to the Apexes," Kimber countered politely. She smiled and got to her feet gracefully to smooth out her gown. "Do you want some tea?" She pointed to where a tray with four cups waited nearby. "We were expecting you."
Sherry eyed Theo who grinned unrepentantly and said, "I take after my mother."
(Orchid; Orchid Castle)
If there was anything scarier than a witch with a gentle disposition and a complete lack of regard for following rules he didn't make, the people of Orchid hadn't seen it. Combined with an absolute love for their Ruler Cultivator was a certain sense of fascinated awe with him. He was kind and generous and possessed a great sense of humor, and he never changed his mind once it got set.
The landscape developer currently waiting in the throne room of the castle knew that he was in for an epic battle to get his way. He held his breath as the doors opened, and then his shoulders relaxed in relief as the queen walked in instead. "My liege."
Gail Orchid slowly lifted a lavender brow over silvery-black eyes. Her shocking beauty had gotten her fancifully termed the Mermaid of Orchid, which seemed fitting given the world held the Water Flower Element and therefore was nearly all water with floating cities. The largest, though still small, strip of land held the actual kingdom. Gail herself possessed the Thunder Flower Element, and was a demi-goddess within her own right, so she could actually be almost as stubborn as her husband. "Hello," she said as she approached. "Ryan will be here shortly." She barely hid a grin as the developer's smile faltered. "I'm sure we know your request, but you're welcome to make your pitch anyway."
The developer took a deep breath. "I have bought a parcel in a city and want to build a large industrial building there."
"And how many buildings do you currently own and lease?"
He sighed. "Five."
"Which is the legal limit per developer," Ryan Orchid noted as he walked into the room with his black hair swinging merrily around his shoulders. Ultramarine and purple streaks over his almond-shaped blue eyes marked his lineage, and his olive skin displayed handsomely against his Ruler suit. Streaks and suit alike harkened to the blue orchid of his world, as did his not visible yet softly glowing Flower Marks as a Dual Cultivator. Though on the slender and shorter side at five-five—his Caretaker stood taller by five inches—he still had a distinct presence. "I don't want our world to be overdeveloped, thank you, and everyone gets a fair shot at being landlords!"
"But I just bought the parcel!"
"Well, you knew the law before buying it, so that's your problem." He crossed his arms as his chin took on a stubborn line that made his wife grin. "I'm not changing the law for anyone. You came from Protea. You saw what happened as the world had to overdevelop to compensate for sustaining the entire galaxy for ten thousand years. It's only now recovering from that, and I and my fellow Rulers aren't letting it happen anywhere else."
"So what do I do with the land?" the landscaper asked anxiously.
"Build something other than a building," came a female voice from the doorway.
All three turned, and Ryan brightened. "Mom! Dad!"
Desiree and Uwe Andres both smiled as they walked into the room. "Still keeping troublemakers in line? That's my boy," Uwe said, his hazel eyes twinkling with humor under his peach bangs.
The developer bowed hastily, awe on his face. Desiree and Uwe alike had quite a pedigree; both had been the last queen and king of Orchid, but Uwe also served as a Commander and personal guard to the former High King Robert Protea, and Desiree of course had been a Dual Cultivator. Her lineage could be clearly see in her ultramarine hair and purple eyes matching to the streaks in her son's hair, and she had a light brown skin tone. She shared her height and slender but strong frame with her son, while Uwe stood a bit taller and had a much stronger physique across tanned skin. "My lord and lady," the developer said. "I, uh, did not expect you."
"You, scoot! I'm busy now and you aren't going to change my mind." Ryan began pushing him toward the door. "Design something else."
"Pleeease?" he pleaded as he was pushed. "Just a little building?"
"No!" He shut the doors firmly and blew out a breath. "Honestly!" He smiled and swung around to look at his parents. "I didn't expect you either, but I'm happy to see you!" He moved to hug them both happily. "I guess this means everyone is visiting their kids?"
"Indeed." Desiree grinned. "I look forward to hearing about Diaz and Alexandria seeing your sister. Rumor hath it she keeps Silas on his toes in trying to keep her out of trouble."
Gail snorted softly. Silas was her slightly younger twin brother, and she did not envy what he dealt with on a daily basis. "Rumor hath it right!"
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment